Toby Curless is an Alzheimer’s Research UK PhD student at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, determined to make complex dementia research more engaging and accessible.
Toby was studying for his A-Levels when his grandfather, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, began to decline rapidly, sadly passing way shortly after Toby had left school.
This would be hugely influential on Toby’s life, and he quickly decided against a career as a medical doctor, realising that he was “only interested in the brain.”
He studied cellular and molecular biology at Newcastle University before pursuing a master’s degree in dementia research at UCL. It was a perfect fit for Toby and he ‘fell in love’ with brain research, graduating at the top of his class.
Understanding the biology of what's going on in the brain and why you are seeing changes in a person that you love so much is very empowering. I wish I’d had a greater understanding of what was going on when my grandpa was alive. I think it would have helped me be more patient and sympathetic with him.
Toby landed a job as a research technician, working on Parkinson’s disease at the UCL Queen Square Brain Bank, before securing his “dream PhD” studying the genetics of frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in the renowned Neurogenetics Lab, led by Professors Sir John Hardy and Henry Houlden.
I love coming to work every day and knowing that the questions I'm trying to answer are ones that no one in the history of the world has ever answered before.
A chance opportunity to film a ‘day-in-a-life-of a dementia researcher’ video for Alzheimer’s Research UK was a turning point. With little social media experience, Toby discovered he had a passion for making science accessible and a natural talent in front of the camera. He quickly built a loyal online following of people keen to understand more about the conditions affecting their loved ones, alongside aspiring scientists interested in a career in neuroscience.
Toby now has a global audience of more than 150,000 people across TikTok and Instagram, using these platforms to translate the latest developments in dementia research into bitesize, accessible videos, and even to sign-up participants to research studies.
Once he has completed his PhD in 2028, Toby hopes to continue to help the dementia community through public engagement alongside his scientific research, aiming to reach a broader audience through TV and public speaking.
Not enough people are genuinely interested in dementia because they think of it as an old people problem, but one-in-two people will be directly affected by dementia at some point in their lifetime.
Social media is a unique opportunity to build trust in scientists and allows us to have a reciprocal relationship with people who are living with the conditions we’re studying.
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